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Copyright & Disclaimer
Copyright 2008-2009, Daniel Scocco
http://www.dailyblogtips.com
All rights reserved. No part of this ebook may be
reproduced, posted or shared in any form, by any
means.
The information in this ebook is provided “as is,”
with no implied warranties or guarantees.
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Introduction
This introduction answers some common questions
among aspiring bloggers. If you already have a blog
and know the basics, feel free to skip to Chapter 1.
Do I Need a Domain and Hosting?
It is fine to get started on a hosted solution like
Blogger.com or WordPress.com. They will allow you
to learn the basics of blogging and web publishing
without spending money. As soon as you nail down
these basics, however, it is vital to buy your own
domain name and to purchase a web hosting
package with some company.
Why? There are several reasons. First of all when
you use those hosted services you don't really own
your website, and they could shut it down if they
believe you have violated one of their policies.
Secondly, with your own domain and hosting
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account you will have more flexibility and features
on the technology side. This means that you will be
able to choose different content management
systems to install, special scripts and so on.
Finally, having your own domain name will add a lot
of credibility to your blog, as most beginners (and
spammers) use free hosted solutions.
The question then becomes: What kind of domain
name and hosting should you purchase?
Here is a rule of thumb you can use. For the domain
name, aim for something with two words and a
.com extension. If you have a blog about diets, for
example, you could try dietspot.com or alldiets.com.
But be warned, finding a good and available domain
is not easy, and you will probably need to spend
days on the task.
For the web hosting, choose a shared hosting plan
based on Linux (as opposed to Windows), and make
sure that it uses cPanel (the standard software for
hosting management). If you don't know how to
identify these two things, just email the customer
support of the company asking whether or not they
have it.
What Software Should I Use?
WordPress (the software, not to be confused with
the hosted solution WordPress.com) is by far the
best CMS (Content Management System) for
bloggers and small web publishers. It is an open
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source project, so you won't need to spend a dime.
On top of that it offers more features than any other
software, and it is supported by a huge community.
If you have a hosting plan that uses cPanel, as we
recommend above, you should find an icon called
“Fantastico” inside your dashboard. This is a script
you can use to install a wide range of software with
just a couple of clicks. You can use it to install
WordPress, too. Alternatively you can download the
software at WordPress.org and install it manually
(they have a “how to” manual for it).
Aren't Blogs Just Personal Diaries?
While blogs emerged on the web as personal diaries,
over the years they have evolved into much more
than that.
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It all began when people realized that the blog
platform could be used for a wide range of purposes.
Some started sharing news on their blogs, others
humor pieces, and others yet started writing articles
on their fields of expertise.
The key aspect is the fact that blogs
transformed monologues into conversations.
Before their appearance, you had a small number of
mainstream websites that were responsible for the
production of all the content online. Users like you
and me could just absorb that content passively.
With the appearance of blogs, however, the access
to web publishing was democratized. Suddenly
anyone, anywhere could share his ideas and content
with the rest of the world.
Today the line between blogs and mainstream
websites is blurring. You have popular blogs like
TechCrunch.com competing head to head with
established publications like Wired.
We could say that a blog is nothing more than a
type of website. It is a platform that anyone can use
to publish content on the web. As for what that
content must be, there are no rules.
Is It Really Possible to Make Money
Blogging?
The answer is “yes.” TechCrunch.com makes over
$1,000,000 per year. Popular blogs like
PerezHilton.com, Mashable.com and
HuffingtonPost.com follow closely.
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Obviously most of those blogs resemble mainstream
publications these days, with several paid writers, a
specialized sales team and the like, but they all
started with a single blogger writing about his
passion.
And you don't need to go to the very top to see the
money. I don't consider myself to be particularly
gifted, yet I make six figures per year online. All that
money can be traced back to my blogs. Some of it
directly, via advertising and affiliate marketing
deals, and some indirectly, via online projects that
were launched thanks to the blogs.
So yes, it is definitely possible to make money
blogging. At his point many people ask: “But is it
easy or quick?” Well, that is a completely different
question, and unfortunately the answer here is a big
“no.”
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Making money blogging is no different than making
money with any other venture, be it online or offline.
As such, it will take time and require a heck lot
of work.
Blogging has several advantages though. It allows
you to write on a topic that you are passionate
about, to work anywhere and anytime, to network
with many interesting people, and it can also
become a real business.
What Should I Blog About?
Choosing the right niche for your blog is tricky. If you
want to blog merely as a hobby, then feel free to
write about whatever you want. The important thing
here is to have fun.
If, however, you want to make money with your blog
and possibly grow it into a business, you will need to
choose your niche more carefully.
The first mistake to avoid is making the blog
gravitate around your person. This includes
using a domain with your name and surname and
writing excessively about personal matters. This has
worked for some people, but most of them already
had some notoriety before they started blogging.
Don't get me wrong. Putting yourself in your blog
and sharing your related experiences with the
audience is perfectly fine, but your site should have
a topic on its own, say small business or Microsoft
Windows, as opposed to being a personal blog.
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The second mistake is trying to cover too
many topics with the same blog. You probably
have many interests and passions, but you need to
choose one of them for your blog. If you write about
technology, politics and fitness, you will have a hard
time developing a core audience. The sharper the
focus of your blog, the easier it will be to attract
readers and to monetize it.
The third mistake is choosing a niche that you
are not passionate or knowledgeable about.
This usually happens when people see someone
making good money in a certain niche, and they
decide to imitate it. As I mentioned before, making
money blogging will take time and hard work. If you
don't love what you are writing about, you won't
have the motivation to stick with it long enough.
Finally, try to focus on just one blog instead of
creating a myriad of them. It is easier to make
money with one authoritative blog than with a
bunch of mediocre ones.
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Chapter 1: The Content
It all starts with the content. Why? Because in order
to make money with a blog you need to have traffic,
and quality content is the best traffic generator.
Ask 100 bloggers what factors contributed to their
success, and I am sure that pretty much all of them
will mention the content.
In this first chapter we are going to define what is
quality content, and list some strategies that you
can use to improve the content on your blog.
1.1 Valuable, Unique and Engaging
Quality content must be valuable, unique and
engaging.
It must be valuable because people need a reason
to visit your blog. This value will have different
forms, depending on the type of blog that you have.
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Readers of a tech news blog, for example, will get
value if the posts keep them informed and up to
date with the latest tech developments. Readers of
a humor blog, on the other hand, will get value if the
posts entertain them and make them laugh. The
important thing is to make sure that your readers
will get something in return for the attention they
will lend to you.
Quality content must also be unique, else people
won't need to visit your blog to read it. If you start a
news blog and simply write about all the stories that
appear on the New York Times, for example, you will
have a hard time finding readers, because most
people will prefer to visit the original source.
Finally, quality content must be engaging. Blogs
became immensely popular on the Internet because
they transformed monologues into conversations. If
you want a popular blog, you need to build a
community around it. Practically speaking, this
means that you should write with a personal touch,
share your opinions where appropriate, ask direct
questions to your readers, use their comments as
base for your posts and so on.
1.2 Killer Articles
A killer article is nothing more than a post that
packs a huge amount of value for potential
visitors. Once you publish a killer article, you want
people who will come across it to have the following
reaction:
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“Wow! This is awesome. I 'd better bookmark this
article. Heck, I'd better even Tweet and blog about it
to let my friends and readers know about it too.”
Killer articles are usually long and structured posts,
but that is not necessarily the case. Suppose you
have a personal finance blog and you discover a
trick that will help people save a lot of money with
their phone bills. Writing about this trick, even if
with a few words, would be a killer article, because it
would be incredibly valuable for potential visitors.
Killer articles should be the cornerstone of your
content development strategy. Why? Because they
generate traffic, attract backlinks and establish your
authority inside your niche.
Here are some types of killer articles that you can
use in your blog:
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Lists (Example: 43 Web Design Mistakes You
Should Avoid)
Resources (Example: 35 Incredible Free Icon
Sets)
In-depth analysis (Example: A Guide to
Semantic Technologies)
How-to articles (Example: How to Copy a DVD
With VLC 1.0)
Elaborated interviews (Example: Five Link
Development Experts: A Group Interview)
Breaking news (Example: Amazon Buys
Zappos)
Rankings (Example: NxE's 50 Most Influential
Bloggers)
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Most killer articles will take a lot of time and effort,
but the results are worth it. In other words, don't be
afraid to put hours of work into brainstorming,
researching, writing and formatting your killer
articles.
Finally, aim to publish your killer articles with a
regular frequency. One killer article per week is
ideal. If you don't have enough time for that, aim for
one every two weeks or one every month at least.
1.3 Normal Posts
While killer articles are paramount to attracting new
visitors and establishing the authority of your blog
(in the eyes of both people and search engines),
normal posts are the ones that will build a
community around the blog, because they allow
you to talk directly with the readers and to engage
them.
Moreover, normal posts will make the content flow
more smoothly in your blog. Publishing killer articles
every day would consume a huge amount of time,
and even if you could do that you would probably be
overloading your readers with more information that
they could absorb.
Here are some types of normal posts that you can
use in your blog:
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Quick tips (Example: The Power of Analogy)
Questions to the readers (Example: What Are
Your Top 3 Life Goals?)
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Opinion pieces (Example: Malcolm is Wrong)
Polls (Example: How Long Have You Been
Blogging?)
Quick links (Example: 8 Tips for Aspiring
Entrepreneurs)
Events (Example: Win Tickets to Social Media
Success Summit 2009)
Blog updates (Example: New Design and New
Features on Shomeoney.com)
1.4 Headlines
Most copywriters defend that you need to spend as
much time working on the headline as you do on the
rest of the copy. This principle applies to blogs too,
where you need to make sure that your post titles
are as good as they can be.
Why is the headline so important? Because it is the
first thing a person sees, and unless you craft it
smartly, it will also be the last one.
The headline, in fact, will affect both the people who
are about to visit your blog and the ones who are
already visiting it. Suppose that one of your posts
was submitted to Digg.com, a social bookmarking
site. If it has a poor title, people will not click on the
link to visit your blog (let alone vote on it). Similarly,
even if someone is already inside your blog, he
might decide to leave if the titles of your posts don't
grab his attention and encourage him to read the
rest of those articles.
A good headline has two main factors. First of all
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its wording is aligned with the mindset of
target visitors. This is important because it will
communicate to web users that your content
matches exactly what they are looking for.
If you want to discover how your target visitors word
their needs and wants, use the Google AdWords
Keyword Tool. It is a free service, and once you input
a certain keyword, it will create a list with 150
related terms, including their respective search
volume in the Google search engine.
Suppose that you just wrote a killer article with 20
tips to clean a house efficiently. Your first idea for a
title is “20 Tips to Clean Your House.” Upon using
the AdWords Keyword Tool, however, you would
discover that “tips to clean house” is a term
searched only 28 times per month. A much more
popular term is “house cleaning tips,” searched
4,400 times per month. So you would probably get
better results with the title “20 House Cleaning
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Tips.”
The second factor that makes a good headline
is an emotional hook. The headline should be
crafted in a way that will trigger a certain emotion in
the reader, encouraging him to click on the link (in
the case of someone outside your blog) or proceed
to read the rest of the article (in the case of
someone already inside your blog).
Here are some examples of headlines that work:
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24 Car Chases That Will Give You Skid Marks
Do You Make These 7 Mistakes When You Write?
How To: Backup And Search All Your Friends'
Tweets In Google Reader
5 Incredibly Impractical Sexual Fetishes
What Does the NFL Have in Common With
Iran's Clerics?
Quick Way to Make Real 3D Image Flipping
Effect
75 (Really) Useful JavaScript Techniques
Do You Know the Japanese Food Secrets for
Beautiful Skin?
Top 10 Most Ridiculous Band Names in Rock
Warning: People are Ignoring Advertising. But
They do Read News.
17 Images You Won't Believe Aren't
Photoshopped
What You Should Know About Home Equity
Lines of Credit
The 9 Most Badass Bible Verses
39 Creative Flash Designs
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1.5 Content Ideas
Sooner or later most bloggers struggle to come up
with ideas for new posts. The first step to combat
this problem is to develop the habit of writing
your ideas down. Whenever you come across
something that could lead to a blog post, write it
down. Use pen and paper, a white-board, or even a
text processor in your computer. Just make sure to
have a place where you can store and organize your
ideas.
Another tactic that you could use is to leave many
post drafts ready to go. Once you are sure that
one of your ideas could indeed be a good post, go to
your blogging software and write the draft for that
post. Include the headline as well as the main
points. Then whenever you feel like writing on that
topic, open the draft and finish it.
If despite using the methods above you are still
lacking ideas for new posts, here are some tricks
that you can use. The first one is the Google
AdWords Keyword Tool. Simply go there and input
some keywords related to your niche. If you have a
video game blog, for instance, run the tool for
keywords like “video games”, “playstation”, “xbox”
and the like. After that you will just need to check
the long tail of results to identify topics that you
could write about.
You can also use social bookmarking sites to find
what is hot around the web and get ideas for new
posts. Here is list with some popular ones that you c
an use:
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Digg.com
StumbleUpon.com
Reddit.com
Delicious.com
Finally, take a look on external places and try to
identify ideas that could be adapted inside your own
niche. This include mainstream websites, blogs on
other niches, newspapers, print magazines,
television programs and the like.
1.6 Posting Frequency
When people start blogging, they often wonder if
there is an ideal posting frequency. The answer is
“no.” There are popular blogs out there where the
author only posts once a week, while others get
updated several times per day.
If you need to choose between quality and quantity,
therefore, go with quality. In other words, only
publish a post if you believe that it will add value to
your blog and audience. A bad post is worse than
no post at all, because it might damage the image
of your blog and make you lose readers.
That being said, if you want to make significant
money with your blog, you will need to have both
quality and quantity. It is no coincidence that
most blogs on the Technorati Top 100 list publish
new content every day.
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If you can't publish daily posts, at least make sure
that you have a regular schedule. For example, post
two times per week and stick with it.
It would also be a good idea if you could post on the
same days every week, and even at the same hour
of the day. This regularity would give your readers
the confidence that they will always find some fresh
content on your blog.
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Chapter 2: Design and Usability
In the early days of your blog you will inevitably
need to spend some time working on the design and
usability aspects. In this second chapter I will share
with you some tips and tricks that you can use on
your blog.
2.1 Free Resources
If you are just starting out, there is no need to spend
money on your design. WordPress users have a wide
range of free and beautiful themes to choose from.
Your first destination should be the official Themes
Directory. On top of that you also have many sites
and blogs that compile lists with the best themes
around. Here are some of them:
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83 Beautiful WordPress Themes
100 Best WordPress Themes
Top 50 Free WordPress Themes
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45 Must See WordPress Themes
45 Free Premium WordPress Themes
WordPress themes are also very easy to customize,
making it possible to add a unique touch to your site
even if you are using a free theme.
I also recommend that you learn the basics of HTML
and CSS, as this will be useful for the rest of your
“online career.” The w3Schools.com website has a
structured lesson plan for both of these topics.
Another site that has an excellent teaching material
for web design is HTML.net.
2.2 The Logo
When you get some money available to invest in
your blog, spend it on a logo. Why? Because a logo
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can be attached to any template or design, and it
will give a unique look to your blog and
reinforce your brand.
By far the best website to purchase a logo from is
99designs.com.
You basically create a contest for your logo,
specifying a prize, and their community of designers
will submit entries. You will be able to interact with
the designers, and after one week or so you will
choose the winning entry. I have seen awesome
logos being submitted for prizes as low as $150
(which is the minimum amount).
2.3 Priorities
There are literally hundreds of things that you could
want visitors of your blog to do. Examples include:
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read at least one post,
read as many posts as possible,
read your most popular posts,
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subscribe to the RSS feed,
subscribe to the email newsletter,
click on affiliate links and make a purchase,
click on ads,
submit a post to a social bookmarking site,
check your profile on social networks,
check the blogs on your Blogroll,
leave a comment,
bookmark your website on the browser,
email one of your posts to a friend,
download your ebook, and
purchase your product.
Unfortunately, it is not possible to design a blog in a
way that all of those things will be encouraged.
Some people try, but the result is a lot of clutter that
only confuses visitors, creating a terrible user
experience.
This means that you will need to prioritize. I
recommend that you write down five top priorities,
and then design the elements of your blog around
these priorities.
Whatever does not support the priorities should be
removed, or at least moved to a place where it won't
get in the way of the user experience (e.g., the
footer).
Obviously the number five is just a rule of thumb, so
feel free to change it. The key message is: the
fewer things you “ask” your visitors to do, the
higher the chances that they will actually do
them.
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2.4 Subscription Calls
In the previous point I mentioned that you should
choose five priorities for your blog. Well, one of
them should be to get as many subscribers as
possible. Why? Because subscribers represent a
guaranteed audience for your content.
Secondly, it is easier to build relationships with
people who read your posts regularly.
Traditionally blogs use RSS feeds to let people
subscribe to their content, but you should not limit
yourself to that. Make sure to offer subscriptions via
email as well (you can do that with Feedburner), and
possibly to have a Twitter account that will be
updated with all new posts.
As far as the design of your blog is concerned, you
should reserve two spots for your subscription calls.
One of them must be above the fold, which could be
either in the header or on top of the sidebar. The
second one should be at the bottom of single posts.
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In the section below your single posts you could
include a message to encourage visitors to
subscribe.
2.5 Your Best Content
Another priority that you should have is to showcase
your best content to first time visitors. This will
improve their chances of sticking around,
bookmarking your site and subscribing to your RSS
feed or email newsletter.
There are two ways to do that. The first one is by
creating a “Popular Posts” section somewhere
in your layout (you can name it any way you
prefer). The most common spot for this section is
the sidebar, but there are also bloggers who use the
header and the footer for it.
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As for the list of popular posts, you can either
choose it manually and add the links with HTML
code, or use a WordPress plugin like WordPress
Popular Posts to automate the task.
The second option is less intrusive, and it
involves creating an internal page on your
blog that will list your most popular posts. You
could divide the posts by category or month, for
example. Once the page is ready, simply link to it
from the main menu (calling the link “Best of”, for
instance) or from the sidebar. To create a better
visual effect you could also use an image instead of
text to link to that page.
2.6 Usability Mistakes
There are some usability mistakes that bloggers
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tend to make over and over again. We will list them
here, so that you can use it as a checklist.
No search box: Internet users resort to the search
box whenever they need to find something specific.
Some people even use search to navigate around
websites. If you don't have a (visible) search box on
your site, those users will get very frustrated.
No archives: It is essential to have a page where
the visitor can browser through all your posts. Apart
from improving the user experience, this page will
also be healthy for your search engine optimization,
as it works as a sitemap.
No contact page: It is very annoying for visitors if
they have something to tell you and can't find a way
to get in touch. Secondly, you risk losing valuable
feedback if that is the case.
Complex navigation: Try to make your navigation
structure as simple as possible. This involves using a
main navigation bar, having a link back to the
homepage on all internal pages, avoiding drop-down
menus and so on.
Bad typography: If people can't read your content
comfortably they will just head somewhere else.
Make sure that your font is big enough, that the
letter and line spacing is adequate, that you have
enough white space surrounding the content and so
on.
Invisible links: Hyperlinks are cornerstones of web
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navigation, and they should always be easily
recognizable. Try to make your hyperlinks
underlined. If you don't like that, at least make sure
that their color stands out and that users won't get
confused regarding what is clickable and what is
not.
Too many ads: Many bloggers tend to assume that
in order to make money blogging they need to jam
ads all over their sites. This is not true. To make
money blogging you need to have quality traffic,
and too many ads will reduce your quality traffic
over the long term. Start with as few ads as
possible, and move your way up consciously, always
putting your visitors' experience first. We will talk
more about monetization in the last chapter of this
ebook.
Badges, buttons and widgets: This is another
very common mistake. Since it is so easy to add
badges, buttons and widgets, many bloggers fill
their sidebars completely with them. Most of those
items, however, won't add much value to your
visitors, while cluttering your design and possibly
driving traffic away from your site.
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Chapter 3: Networking
In most professional fields, who you know is at least
as important as what you know. Blogging is no
exception.
If you have a good relationship with many bloggers
and site owners they will be more likely to link to
your posts, recommend your blog to other people
and even help you sell a product or service.
In other words: networking is key. In this chapter I
will list how you can network effectively online.
3.1 Genuine Relationships
The first principle to keep in mind is that networking
is about building genuine relationships. This
means that you should not approach people solely
because you think they are popular, rich or
important.
Instead you should approach people who you
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respect and whose work you would be glad to
recommend to others.
Why? Because networking is about finding win-win
relationships. Before people help you, you will need
to help them. You must be willing to support and
contribute to the people in your network.
3.2 Make a List
I will try to highlight some practical tips that you can
use for your networking now. The first one is to
build a list with all the active blogs in your
niche and possibly in related niches as well.
The size of the list will obviously depend on your
niche. If you blog about technology, you probably
should have at least 200 blogs there. If you blog
about orchids, on the other hand, probably it would
have fewer than 20. The important thing is that you
make your list as complete as possible, because this
will be the starting point of your networking
activities.
Here are some tools and websites that you can use
to find blogs inside specific niches:
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Technorati
AllTop
BlogRank
Wikio Top Blogs
BlogCatalog
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3.3 Introduce Yourself
Once your list is ready, you want to introduce
yourself to all those bloggers. Most blogs have
either a contact form or an email address listed
somewhere, so use either to get in touch.
Here is how you could craft your message:
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Be straight forward about the fact that you are
introducing yourself.
Mention that you blog in the same niche, and
include the URL either in the message itself or
in the signature.
If you like the content of the blog, say so, and
mention that you will link to it when possible.
Here is a sample message to illustrate these points:
Hi Mark,
I am writing just to introduce myself. My name is
Daniel, and I also have a blog in the ________ niche.
The URL is ________________.
I found your content very interesting, and I will
definitely be recommending it to my readers.
Best wishes,
Daniel
3.4 Link When Possible
A golden rule of networking is “give before you
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ask.” If you want bloggers and site owners to link to
you, link to them first.
I would recommend that you subscribe via RSS to all
the blogs on your list. This will be useful both to
keep updated with the trends in your niche and to
spot good articles from those bloggers. When you
come across one, write a post about it, add your
opinion to the topic, and link to the source.
You could also write an email to that blogger
mentioning that you really liked his article, and that
you decided to share it with your readers.
Finally, keep in mind that linking out to quality and
related content is always a good thing. Many
bloggers fear that by linking out they might lose
readers or Google PageRank. This is a myth. Your
own readers will appreciate if you point them to
useful content, and Google itself encourage
webmasters to use external links to enrich their
sites.
3.5 Support in Other Ways
Apart from linking often to people in your network,
you should also try to support them in other ways.
Examples include:
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recommending their websites to other people,
endorsing their products or services,
suggesting them for an interview or award,
submitting and voting for their posts on social,
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bookmarking sites, and
sharing their posts on social networks like
Twitter and Facebook.
It is when you give without the expectation of
getting something back that people start seeing you
as a friend.
3.6 Share Your Best Content
By now you should be asking yourself: “Well, I will
do all that stuff for the people in my network, but
when will I get something back?”
If you try to help people genuinely as I mentioned,
they will certainly notice it and be glad to return the
favor.
One thing that you can do to encourage this,
however, is to share your best content with them.
When you publish one of your killer articles, for
example, you could send emails to the people in
your network with a link to the article.
It is important to not beg for a link back, but simply
to mention that you believe he or she will like the
article. Here is a sample message to give you an
idea:
Hi Mark,
Daniel from the XYQ blog here. I just published a
post titled “The 20 Best iPhone Applications for
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Students,” and I believe you will like it.
The URL is ___________________________
Best wishes,
Daniel
With this approach the person on the other side will
be more likely to read the article, as there is no
pressure involved. If he likes the content, there is a
good chance that he will link to it. If he doesn't link,
however, don't get frustrated or pissed off. Just keep
working on your blog, and sooner or later that
person will link to you.
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Chapter 4: Promotion
Writing outstanding content is not enough. You need
to make sure that as many people as possible will be
exposed to that content. This is where promotional
activities come in.
4.1 Blog Comments
Leaving comments on popular blogs inside your
niche can be very effective at promoting your blog,
especially in the early days.
If you write a funny, insightful or controversial
comment, the readers of that blog might get curious
and click on your comment link to check out your
website. And since these readers are interested in
your niche, there are good chances that they will
like your content too.
You need to be consistent for this tactic to
work, however. This means that you should
comment on many blogs and write many comments
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every day (e.g., 20 comments every day).
There are two mistakes to avoid here. The first one
is to write useless comments like “Great post!”. Your
comments must add value to the discussion.
The second mistake is to use keywords or the name
of your blog in the name field. Keywords should
never be used, as they make your comment look
very spammy. Imagine getting a comment on your
blog from someone named “Buy Cheap Car
Accessories”....
The name of your blog could still be used, but make
sure to precede it with your personal name. For
instance, instead of using “CarsBlog.com” in the
name field, use “Joe Smith – CarsBlog.com.”
Promoting a blog is about interacting with other
people. That is why you want to always have your
personal name there.
4.2 Link Exchanges
Many webmasters believe that link exchanges are
obsolete, but that is not true. If done correctly, they
can still be effective for promoting a website or blog.
In fact they can send you both targeted traffic and
search engine juice.
You just need to make sure that your link exchanges
will not violate Google's policies (and that of other
search engines).
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The first requirement for this is to exchange links
only with blogs that are relevant and useful to
your own readers.
The second requirement is to use a natural anchor
text. This means that you should use the name of
the blog in the link, and not some keyword that the
blogger wants to target.
If you are still worried about getting penalized with a
link exchange, you can use the rel=”nofollow”
attribute on the links (and ask your partners to do
the same). This will remove the sharing of search
engine juice, but the links will still be useful to share
traffic and brand awareness.
The most common place to put links is the sidebar
of the blog. You could call them “Blogroll,” “Friends,”
“Recommended Blogs” and so on.
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Another place that you can use to exchange links is
the RSS feed. Simply add a message at the bottom
of your feed (you can do that with the RSS Footer
plugin) with a link to your partner, and ask him to do
the same on his RSS feed.
4.3 Guest Posts
When you guest blog, you basically write an article
to be published on someone else's blog. This
practice is common in the blogosphere because it
has benefits for everyone involved. The hosting blog
gets a free piece of content. The guest blogger gets
the opportunity to showcase his expertise or ideas
to a new audience. The readers of the blog get to
read an article from a different author.
Guest bloggers can also include a byline on their
articles, with a link pointing back to their blogs. If
you manage to guest blog on popular blogs in your
niche, therefore, you should be able to attract new
visitors, new subscribers, and also to improve your
search engine optimization thanks to the highly
relevant backlink that you will receive.
Here is how you can structure the process:
1. List the blogs where you want to guest
post.
2. Analyze the first blog on the list trying to
understand what kind of content is popular
there.
3. Write an article specifically for that blog.
4. Make it something valuable, possibly a killer
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article.
5. Email the article to the blog owner, asking
whether he is interested in publishing it.
6. If he accepts, you are are set, and you can
move on to the second blog on the list.
7. If he rejects, adapt the article to the second
blog on your list and send it to that blog owner.
8. Write a new article for the blogger who
rejected you, and repeat this process until you
have covered all the blogs on the list.
4.4 Social Bookmarking Sites
Social bookmarking sites allow users to store and
share bookmarks of pages from around the web.
Most of them use a ranking system to determine
what bookmarks and submissions are popular
among the community, and usually those get
displayed on the front page.
One of the most popular social bookmarking sites is
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Digg.com.
If one of your blog posts gets featured on the Digg
homepage you can expect to receive anywhere from
20,000 up to 100,000 visitors in a matter of 24
hours. The drawback of Digg is the fact that it is
hard to get promoted to the front page, as there is a
lot of competition from larger websites.
StumbleUpon.com is another large social
bookmarking site, and it works around a toolbar that
users must install on their browsers.
The advantage of StumbleUpon over Digg is the fact
even a small number of votes can bring some traffic
to your site, and that traffic can last several days.
Other social bookmarking sites that you could try
include:
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Reddit.com
Delicious.com
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Mixx.com
Propeller.com
ShoutWire.com
Fark.com
Buzz.Yahoo.com
Newsvine.com
Faves.com
The important thing is to dedicate some time
to using those sites and trying to understand
the tacit rules around them. Analyze what kind
of content gets promoted to the front page, how the
headlines are crafted, what kind of comments the
users leave and so on.
4.5 Social Networks
Social networks are useful marketing tools because
they allow you to interact with your existing
audience on different channels and because they
can also be leveraged to attract new visitors.
The first network that you should use is Twitter,
given its exponential growth on the web.
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You could create an account with the name of your
blog and use it to share posts from your blog and
relevant links from around the web. Your goal is to
create value through your tweets while interacting
with as many people as possible.
Facebook is another popular social network you
should try.
Create a personal profile for yourself there, and then
a page for your blog. Make sure to explore the other
features as well, including the ability to post
pictures, videos, articles, and to interact with
groups.
Finally, consider using niche social networks as well.
They will probably be smaller and have less traffic
generation potential, but you will be able to find a
very targeted audience on them. Here is a list that
you can use with over 400 niche social networks.
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4.6 Promoting Killer Articles
Your promotional activities should focus on two
points: promoting your blog as a whole (i.e., by
leaving comments on related blogs) and promoting
your killer articles.
In the first chapter of this ebook I already covered
the concept of killer articles, but here are some
tactics that you can use to promote those articles
after you hit the “Publish” button:
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





Email all the people in your network to let them
know about the article.
Email the owners of blogs and websites in
relevant niches and let them know about the
article.
Ask a friend to submit the article to a suitable
social bookmarking site.
Give the submission an initial push by asking
other friends and contacts to vote on it.
Mention the article and link to it from your
social networking accounts.
Link to the article from other blogs and
websites that you might own.
If the article has a good chance of ranking high
for a keyword, do some linkbuilding focused on
that keyword.
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Chapter 5: Monetization
If approached correctly, monetization is not that
tricky. In this final chapter I will cover the points that
you need to keep in mind when trying to make
money with your blog.
5.1 Authority First, Money Second
I reserved the last chapter for monetization exactly
because it should be the last part of your overall
blogging strategy. In other words, before worrying
about making money with the blog you need to
make sure that:
1. your content is top notch,
2. your traffic is high,
3. your blog is seen as an authority inside its
niche,
4. you have a loyal audience, and
5. your design is clean and ready to receive
ads.
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As this point many people wonder: “Should I avoid
all sorts of ads on my blog initially?”
The answer is: “It is up you.”
Both routes have pros and cons. Starting with no
ads keeps your blog cleaner, but once you add them
some readers might be disappointed.
Starting with ads signals to your readers your
intentions and it also lets you experiment with
different revenue sources. The drawback is that
while your blog is not established the ads might
have a negative impact on the traffic.
The important thing, though, is that you focus your
energies on the content, networking and promotion.
Build an authority blog first, and then worry about
making money with it.
5.2 AdSense
Most bloggers experiment with Google AdSense
sooner or later, but very few manage to make
substantial money with it. The reason is simple: CPC
ads do not work on every website.
You need to meet two basic requirements if you
want to make good money with AdSense:
1. Your blog needs to have high traffic (e.g.,
1,000 daily unique visits or more)
2. A good percentage of that traffic must come
from search engines (e.g., 70% or more)
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Getting traffic from search engines is essential
because those visitors are the ones who most often
click on ads.
If you meet these two requirements, it will be just a
matter of choosing the right AdSense units and
positioning them effectively.
According to Google itself the most profitable ad
units are the 336x280 large rectangle, the 300x250
rectangle and the 160x600 large skyscraper.
As for positioning, you must be willing to hurt the
user experience a bit if you want to have a good
CTR (click-through rate). This is so because ads
blended with the content perform much better than
ads isolated in the sidebar.
The best combination is usually the 336x280 unit on
top of your posts, right below the headline.
If you want something less intrusive, try placing it
between the post and the comment section, or try
using a 160x600 unit on the sidebar.
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Finally, if you don't want to annoy your loyal visitors
with the AdSense units, you can use the Search Ads
plugin to display ads only to visitors coming from
search engines.
5.3 CPM Ads
If your blog generates a good amount of page views
(e.g., 5,000 per day or more), regardless of where
the traffic is coming from, you could experiment
with CPM ads.
CPM stands for cost per mille, and it is a type of
online advertising where advertisers pay for every
1,000 impressions on their ads (in Latin mille means
thousand).
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Here are some popular CPM advertising networks
that you could try:
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
Technorati Media
Tribal Fusion
Burst Media
ValueClick
Casale Media
The most common CPM banner formats are the
728x90 leaderboard, the 300x250 rectangle and the
160x600 large skyscraper.
Usually networks pay a premium price if you display
the banners above the fold, so the trick to making
good money under CPM deals is to have a design
that supports all the three banners above the fold.
Above is a screenshot from PopCrunch.com, a
celebrity blog that uses this monetization strategy.
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5.4 Direct Advertising and Sponsorships
Once your blog achieves a certain size (there is no
magical number here, it varies from niche to niche)
you will find that selling your ads directly could be
more profitable.
Basically you will reserve some spots for the
advertisers, create an “Advertise with us” page, and
start handling the ad sales yourself.
The advantage of this strategy is that you have
more flexibility regarding where and how the ads
will be sold, and you also cut the commissions of the
middle man. The disadvantage is the fact that it will
take some extra work to manage the whole process.
A common question among bloggers starting to sell
direct ads is: “Do I wait for advertisers to approach
me, or should I approach them first?”
If you are getting started with this monetization
strategy you will need to approach advertisers. In
fact, you will need to hunt them down!
First of all create a list of potential advertisers.
Those are companies that are already spending
money with online advertising and that have a
product or service related to your audience. Here
are some tricks that you can use to find them:


Check who is advertising on the other blogs
inside your niche.
Search for keywords related to your blog on
Google and check the companies that will
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appear on the “Sponsored Links.”
Create an account with advertising networks
like SponsoredReviews.com and
BuySellAds.com to check their advertisers.
Once you have 50 or so potential advertisers on
your list, start contacting them via email. It is
important to send a custom message to each of
them, as this will improve your chances of success.
Here are some points that you should include in
your message:
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Introduce yourself and your blog.
Explain that you are opening some advertising
opportunities, and that you believe the
product/service of that company would be a
good match to your audience.
Give some basic statistics about your blog,
including traffic and subscribers.
Highlight the advertising options, including
banner formats, position in the blog and price.
At this point you might be asking yourself: “All right,
but how much should I charge for my ads?”
A rule of thumb that I use is to start charging a
$0.50 CPM for 125x125 banners on top of the
sidebar. If your blog generates 200,000 page views
monthly, therefore, you 125x125 banner on top of
the sidebar should cost $100 monthly.
Make sure to use the real page views of your blog
for this calculation. You can find that with Google
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Analytics, as opposed to software like AWstats and
Webalizer that always inflate numbers.
If you want to use other banner formats or place
them somewhere else you will just need to adapt
that initial CPM. For example, if you want to use a
300x250 banner on top of the sidebar, you could
charge a CPM of $2.00 for that, since that banner is
roughly equal to four 125x125 banners. Again if
your blog generates 200,000 monthly page views,
you could sell your 300x250 banner for $400
monthly.
Finally, remember that this is just a rule of thumb to
get you started. Over time you will find the optimal
price level that will maximize your earnings while
keeping your advertisers happy.
5.5 Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing can and should be used as a
complementary revenue source on your blog.
First of all examine the products and services that
you already use (e.g., books, online applications,
web hosting, gadgets), and check if there is an
affiliate program for them. If there is, write a review
about the products, and use your affiliate links.
As long as you are honest in your reviews and
upfront about the fact that you are an affiliate for
the product or service, your readers won't stop
trusting you or reading your blog.
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Secondly, keep your radar on for the launch of new
products and services that could be useful for your
audience. Once you find one, approach the owner to
see if he has or will have an affiliate program.
Finally, you can also join affiliate marketing
networks like CommissionJunction.com or
ClickBank.com and browse for products that are
related to your blog. If you find some, experiment
with them on the blog, using both banners and links
inside blog posts.
5.6 Email Marketing
Ever heard the saying “the money is in the list”?
Well, it is true. Having a large and responsive email
list is one of the most profitable assets you could
have.
Why? Because email is the most direct form of
online communication, as it puts your message right
in front of people. If on top of that you manage to
build relationships with your subscribers, you will be
able to leverage your list for a wide range of
purposes, from driving traffic to your website to
selling affiliate products.
The takeaway message here is: start building
your email list or newsletter as soon as
possible. There are some free services for email
marketing available, but since getting emails
delivered is a critical issue (due to spam problems) I
recommend that you pick a paid service. Three
reliable companies that offer email marketing
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services are Aweber, iContact and
ConstantConstact.
Once your list is ready to go, start experimenting
with different techniques to get people subscribing,
and focus on building relationships with them.
For the content part, try to send one message every
week, or at least one every fifteen days, and make
sure to add valuable information in every email you
send.
5.7 Beyond Advertising Money
Generating advertising money with the strategies I
described above is possible, and some bloggers
make enough with it to live comfortably.
Limiting your blog to being a source of advertising
revenues would be a big mistake, however.
A blog is a much more than that. It is your interface
with the Internet (and consequently with the world).
You can use your blog to:
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Make friends.
Build an audience.
Establish your expertise.
Network with relevant people.
Experiment with new ideas.
Find Partners.
Launch related projects.
In other words, you should aim to make money with
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your blog but also thanks to it.
And the interesting thing is that you don't even need
to know what you want to do in the future. If you
manage to build a popular and authoritative blog in
your niche, you will be able to leverage it for any
type of venture, be it launching a product,
publishing a book or landing a dream job.
To your blogging success,
Daniel Scocco
http://www.dailyblogtips.com
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